Frank McCourt's Teacher Man

Most Enjoyed Book

Full Disclosure: I am a big fan of McCourt's, so this review (if this can be called a review) won't be very unbiased, I'm afraid. My big regret is that I missed attending his book signing when he was in Chicago recently.

Perhaps, you've read Angela's Ashes (or seen the movie). Angela's Ashes is what hooked me on to McCourt. When 'Tis came out, I eagerly read it. And now his third book, Teacher Man, is perhaps my most favorite one. (I should mention that I have noticed a tendency to give a higher score to things that are fresher in my memory.)

Teacher Man is all about Frank evolving into a great teacher over a 30+ year teaching stint. All the trademark McCourt touches that you might have noticed in 'Tis or Ashes are there -- his self-deprecation, the ever so slight ways in which he injects a moral or a lesson here and there, and his irreverent humor. This memoir is a series of vignettes of classroom events, written in his deceptively simple prose. Phyllis writing about Armstrong landing on the moon, while her father lay dying, the singing of recipes, Papa's Waltz are a few examples. Suffice to say that towards the end of the book, I was rationing how much I read, just in order to savor the book longer.

I found this CNN interview and this review by Powell's to be good reading.

If you haven't read any of McCourt's book, Teacher Man is as good a place to begin as any of the other two. The interesting thing is that I can't think of a segment of the population that will NOT like this book. Like I said, I am biased.